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ABU ABU ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

By Andrew Keili

First some disclosure. I have known Abu Abu Koroma a long time as a very respectful person. He was a guest at my house in Bo on several occasions during SLPP flagbearer campaigns and other events. The one thing I respect about him is his belief in President Bio. As a Northerner he was the subject of intimidation on several occasions in the APC dominated North, but he became unshakeable in his belief and support for candidate Bio and in SLPP flagbearer elections, abandoned Northern candidates for Bio. I was however surprised by his “fire and brimstone” speech, talking about killing and breaking legs. His punishment for his inflammatory speech was probably caused by poor timing. Doing this, just after the Presidents spat fire talking about “terrorists” in his speech was ill timed indeed. Even the NGC has come out is support of Abu Abu-well not quite! The Leader and Chair of NGC, during a press briefing said they consider the action taken by the President as selective justice. He opined that the suspended Resident Minister should have been treated equally as other people that are being investigated for similar offences. “The words of Abu Abu are very frightening and scary. Whether it comes from any political party, those messages are dangerous and should be addressed equally,” Dr. Bright maintained. Well-ehm ehm, not quite support for my man! This endorsement does not save my man from the gallows!

But
I like Abu Abu who has always been the proverbial “Borbor pain”. Not deterred,
he was recently seen preaching peace to SLPP youths in Bo atop a vehicle,
invoking what he said was President Bio’s thinking-“De Pa say e want peace-E
say mek una nor fet. Na only when we get peace we go kerr dis country go the
new direction way we want.”

Thank
you Abu Abu for your Saul to Paul conversion on this Damascus (Bo?) Road. We
pray say de Pa en hat go cam down. I hope my mother in law’s assertion that
anybody with a double name like Abu Abu or Johnny Johnny is a “calamity Jane”,
prone to disasters. Let’s hope on this occasion she is wrong.

APPA’s “FAKE REPORT”

The
All Political Parties Association (APPA) is what the name says- an association
of the political parties. For a long time now, APPA has been a tool of the
party in power, with Chairpersons coming from opposition parties pliable to its
whims. It would appear that with its recent report on the violent incidents at
Tombo and Lunsar, APPA leaves no one in doubt as to who is responsible-APC.
Their report, one critic told me works from “answer to sum” and does not hide
its bias on the findings, which seem to be totally detached from its
recommendations. It is not so much the report that interests me however but the
shady characters mentioned.

The
report states “Two individuals commonly known as “million pound” and “two
bible” led the attack on Police Quarters in Lunsar. There was also “Shabalala” who
was one of those who is said to have led the attack on the residence of the
Paramount Chief. With names like these, no wonder there was trouble. APPA left
no one in doubt that both attacks were against SLPP members.

As
expected, APPA’s Secretary General, APC’s Karamokoh Kabbah cried foul. According
to Kabbah, the Chairman and Deputy Secretary General of the Association who
signed the report did not have the mandate from the organisation to undertake
the exercise. He stated-“As the duly elected National Secretary General of the
Association, I write to inform the general public that the Association has
conducted no such study and has published no such findings captioned above as
claimed by the authors of the fake report.” Kabbah dissociated himself and the
other members of the Executive from the report, saying- “it is surreptitiously
designed with an ulterior motive of misleading and misinforming the public on
very important happenings in the country.” An audio making the rounds on social
media about APPA Officials involved in the “fake report” talking about monies
received under the table confuses the situation even further. This needs to be
clarified by APPA.

APPA
will sort themselves out and decide whether or not it is fake. What a disappointment!
I however rather like the colourful characters in this “fake report”-“Million
pound”,” two Bible” (there should only be one Bible!), “Shabalala” and Oh, I
almost forgot-they named “Karankay” as the ringleader.

POLICE COMEDY SHOW

The
only people that beat the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) in their recent comical
behaviour are the comical duo of Veebe and his partner in Holland who went on
the chase for Adebayor. With detectives like those, Adebayoh will stay away
from the long arm of the law for a long time. The SLP comes a close second.

I
reproduce part of a report I saw on the now infamous picture seized at Dr
Sylvia Blyden’s house by a CID Policeman:

“Head
of CID, AIG Brima Jah says the picture frame of former President Koroma that
was retrieved from Dr. Sylvia Blyden’s residence is of no importance to the
investigation of alleged incitement against the opposition politician. He said
the Police Officer who took the photo and said it will be used as an exhibit to
the investigation was just “trigger happy.”

OK
now we understand! But since he was not carrying a gun should we not coin a new
term “picture happy”? I now breathe a sigh of relief as before the
clarification, I had tucked away a picture in which I was receiving a national
award from President Koroma.

And
again, just imagine this. People are now impersonating our new Inspector
General of Police
A newspaper reported on thus: “Undoubtedly people have been going into shops
and businesses claiming they have been sent by the Inspector General of Police
(IGP) demanding monies, goods like fuel and even cell phone credit. They claim
the IGP is engaged and not available and has therefore sent them.”

But
trust the Police. They gave a stern warning to impersonators, describing them as
criminals and fraudsters.

I
wonder what was wrong –is it the impersonation of the IG or the very act of
people thinking the IG would even have the temerity to ask for favours even
through his official channels? The Deputy Head of Media and Public Relations did
not make this clear. The statement made in the report that, “The Police said
the IGP has people assigned to “undertake official and personal assignments on
behalf of the I.G.” muddies the water. Perhaps the Police should shed
more light on this.